Lawmaker returns from duty in Iraq

State Representative Roger Roth (R-Grand Chute) is a member of the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, which returned to the state earlier this week.

Roth spent about two months at an air base in Ballaad about 30 miles north of Baghdad. The Republican lawmaker says his job was to work on the ejection seats in F-16 fighter jets.

Roth says although he had a couple of offers from army soldiers to go along on patrols, air guard members weren't allowed to leave the base. He says he stayed in a 150 bed dorm, where he had a mattress and decent food.

Obviously, the weather was different from a Wisconsin winter. It was actually cold at night for most of his time there, with highs only in the 80s. However, it was beginning to warm up as they were leaving. Roth says he was surprised to read e-mails from family and friends back home, who described how it kept snowing back in Wisconsin.